Monthly Archives: June 2015

Once a month, for the last 25 years, criminal investigators and forensics experts have been meeting for lunch behind closed doors in Philadelphia to discuss some of the nation’s most heinous crimes.

But what might appear a shadowy cabal to the casual viewer is actually a volunteer collection of crimefighters donating their time and expertise to help smaller police departments investigate unsolved crimes.

It’s called the Vidocq Society.

‘We just give our opinion’

For decades, police in Phoenix couldn’t figure out who stabbed two women and left their bodies near the Arizona Canal in the early 1990s.

Running out of leads, they eventually hit a wall in the investigation.

So last year, two Phoenix investigators flew to Philadelphia to seek out the expert advice of the Vidocq Society’s current and retired criminal investigators.

The two investigators left with one strong kernel of advice from Vidocq members — they had probably already come

BEAVER — When Laura Pettler was 17, it would have been easy for someone who didn’t really know her to assume that she didn’t have much of a future ahead of her, that she would be another statistic.

As a teenage mother who struggled to graduate from Beaver Area High School, self-determination kicked in. A lifelong interest in serving her community, along with a love of mysteries and detective work, began to shape her path.

Childhood

Pettler grew up on Fourth Street in Beaver. Surrounded by family, friends and neighbors, Pettler said she had a wonderful childhood. She remains close to some of her elementary school friends. She loved music and played in musical theater, including a production of Annie Get Your Gun at the Brodhead Cultural Center. She also participated in academic games and Girl Scouts.